On Endless Waters and Empty Hearts
by Wanderliing
Summary: An encounter in a storm on a white boat changes more for either Silver and Gold than they had been planning for. The discovery of each other changes things completely, and their worlds are completely turned upside down. Fantasy AU


**A/N:** I had this draft sitting on my computer for forever and I kept thinking about it so I continued it. I honestly have been craving writing something longer and not high school AU based (though I really love writing those) so I took a spin at something more mythological in nature and viola, here we are. The only think I'm going to say is I wrote this with only my own interests in mind for the plot, as I don't know how many people out there who are as into merpeople as I am. I mean I really hope you guys like this, but I can't really tell for sure.

This story will be switching POVS between Gold and Silver, but you can't really tell that this chapter.

I don't know how often I'll be able to update because I want to be able to write more for this story, even more than what this chapter has, so I don't know how long it'll all take.

**Warnings:** Future M rated sexual content, violent red head merboys, and Gold being a dick

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pokemon and I am in no ways benefiting from the property of Nintendo by writing this fic, it's harmless I just like merboys. I also don't own the poem used.

Hope you enjoy!

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_A mermaid found a swimming lad,_

_Picked him for her own,_

_Pressed her body to his body,_

_Laughed; and plunging down_

_Forgot in cruel happiness_

_That even lovers drown_

-The Mermaid by William Butler Yeats

This was something he had never done before, an activity he had never taken part in, but always had meant to. Light glistened dimly through the water, although it was hard to see it clearly through the very top, Silver knew it was stormy out. It wasn't the worst a storm could ever be, in fact there were only small drops of rain falling on the water, but the strength of the storm would pick up soon, he could feel it. The wind was strong, pushing the waves larger and larger, smashing them into the side of the white boat above them. It was a newer boat, Silver noted to himself. Most of the boats along the sandy bottom of the sea were made of wood, with tall masts and ruined sails. There was a certain beauty about them however, a certain silent aura that he couldn't find in the white bottom of this boat. But, he was going to do it. At long last he would do one of the oldest traditions amongst his kind. It was a tradition that some called out dated, and their grandparents would scold them, with a longing look in eyes that had seen such different things in days past. Eyes that had seen ships burn in stormy weather, eyes that had seen men throw themselves into the ocean to be with that beautiful set of orbs, that small green flash of scales, that beckoning smile. There were so few incidents like this anymore; it made the old merfolk sad. Perhaps not sad, but certainly longing for the past. Merfolk lived so much longer than the average human, what those old eyes had seen went on for a few hundred years. The good thing about perusing human's less meant that they were in less danger themselves. There were no "monster hunts" anymore; there hadn't been any for the past few hundred years. At least, not on the large scale that they used to be.

It was on this day that Silver had given into the temptation that had been haunting him. He wasn't sure why he wanted to do it, or at least that's what he told himself. But, despite this, the answer was painfully obvious to everyone who bothered to look beneath the surface. Silver wanted to be noticed. He wanted those to know he existed; he wanted to be acknowledged and praised. He wanted there to be a different kind of whisper when he swam by, the kind that didn't whisper through sharp toothed mouths of his bad attitude, his anger towards the wall. Whispers that didn't speak of the love his father lacked for him, but rather of his own greatness, of his own prowess. Whispers that wouldn't be whispers in his own house, there it would be out loud praise and bragging, bragging for the son that had finally come through. This was how Silver must have felt deep down, buried beneath his believed emotions of earnestly desiring to do this.

The large white boats underbelly remained above Silver and he stared at it curiously before swimming towards it slowly. He reached a hand forward and gently touched the smooth white surface at the bottom with it. It was smooth, like it had tried to imitate a fish with its existence. However, it hadn't done a very good job. Silver frowned, almost insulted. He let his eyes dart around, checking underwater for the iron chain he expected to see. There was none. Were they simply drifting in the sea? That was ridiculous. What was the point of that? Silver had seen some humans do this on occasion before launching their rough skinned forms into the water, filling it with large ripples as they swam about. They would carry glass bottles that they would carelessly discard that would wash up in new places or that would be filled with water just to drift down to the bottom of the ocean, landing amongst the sand and the shells. Humans were quite the type to leave their mark on the world. The ocean was the place with the least of these marks, but they grew daily. Silver hated it and all of the humans behind it. Every last one of them deserved a grave in that dirt of theirs that they were so attached to. But the mystery of the boat remained to Silver, why was the boat here? There was no one swimming, and this wasn't a good area to fish, that fact could be seen in the lack of rod hanging over the side of the ship. His question was answered rather soon when a dull thunk was felt throughout the water. He turned to see the bottom of a black engine poking into the water. Silver had seen these before, of course, he understood perfectly what they did, which was to propel the boat forward in the water. Was that what they were going to do? Swim forward in the water on their boat? That had to be it.

Silver moved slowly out of the way of the rudder and towards the side of the boat again. Should he do it now? Or would by the time he stuck his head out of the water they already be on their way? Hands gripped something for a second on the motor and a whirring could be heard. And then it happened again. And again. What was tha-

Silver had only a second to ponder the thought before the motor went to life, projecting the boat forward immediately. He was lucky he had moved out of the way previously before he realized while he paused to stare at the engine that was pushing the boat forward, it would have sliced his tail quite well. Just the thought of that made him feel sick to his stomach. It was staring at this boat that made him realize that he had not moved, had not chased his prey as it made the attempt to escape its unknowing hunter.

This thought propelled him further, using his tail he quickly swam through the water, chasing the boat in a small bit of rage as he went. Where did it think it was going? It had not been given permission by the small lord of the sea currently chasing it that it was allowed to leave. If there was one thing Silver was exceptional at, it was getting angry. It inspired him; it gave him a reason to keep on with what he was going. He wasn't as fast as the boat. That wasn't to say this was a norm, or a norm breaker amongst the other merpeople. Silver knew others who could bypass this boat's speed easily; laughing as they went for the race was no challenge at all. He also knew others who would be falling behind even where he was, which wasn't to say he was slow. He was simply average in the skillset for his people. He could keep up with the boat without it going out of his sight as it continued to go into deeper waters. He didn't understand why humans took these things out, he was sure it was for some sort of entertainment, but he supposed he wasn't able to see the fun in it.

They continued like this over the course of the next half an hour and Silver could feel himself slowly paying less and less attention as he went. He was zoning out as he went along, his eyes following the ship reflexively as he trailed it. It was actually a small surprise when he realized it was slowing down. He did as well, trying to avoid crashing into it as it did stop, and failing, the top of his head colliding with the end of the boat. It made a soft noise and Silver couldn't help but wonder if things like this were common when partaking in the experience of trying to lure a sailor to their death. Were these humans even sailors? Did they count? Of course they did. They were on a boat in the water, they were humans, and at least one would soon become his food. Or the food for many he should say. He planned to tie a rope around this human's neck and drag them down into the depths of the ocean. He would pull them along behind him and to his city. He would present the body to his fellow merpeople and he would smile and drop it at his father's feet. He could imagine the shock on everyone's faces and how it would slowly transform into respect. He was sure whatever human he brought back would be delicious. Silver had one small fading memory as a child of eating human at his father's side. It had been salty and full of fat, but it had been delicious. He thought so anyway, he couldn't really be certain.

Loud footsteps were heard across the surface of the ship, as a human stretched its legs across it. A few loud bangs over head of the motor were heard after that and Silver remained motionless in his position, shifting only slightly to go more under the boat, still steering clear of the motionless propeller. He had learned his lesson earlier from his near injury with it earlier. He knew others who had their tails and skin covered in markings from propellers just like that, merpeople and fish alike. It all came from curiosity, something merpeople frowned upon their own kind spreading amongst themselves. Curiosity was quite the dangerous thing.

More footsteps joined the first pair, and then even more. The footsteps were followed by what sounded to laughter, but it was so high pitched and loud Silver fought the compulsion to cover his sensitive ears. It was shrieky in nature, and grating in a way that made him uncomfortable. What on this forsaken earth could be making such a disturbing noise?! More laughter spread and scuffles and the desire to know found itself slowly getting the best of Silver. He made his way slowly around the boat, going to the right side of the large metal engine. He put his pale hands on the surface of it, gripping into it for a moment, before giving his tale a powerful kick that raised him up to the surface.

Only the top of his head poking out, a pair of silver eyes followed the happenings on the boat. There appeared to be about five humans, although there might be more in waiting, one could never tell these things by a glance for sure. There seemed to be three female humans, and one male. They were different in differentiating than Silver's own kind, as they didn't bare their chests without restraint to show the sex they were. Instead it was usually taken from the type of dressings they wore. It still didn't all quite make sense to Silver but he didn't really need it to in order to succeed in his mission.

One of the humans he guessed to be male was wrestling with another of them, one who appeared female by the large bumps on her chest. The male was wrestling her, blackened lenses on his face while he did it. She opened her mouth and let forth that loud noise again, the one that hurt, and Silver winced without meaning to. She seemed to be in pain, but the expression on her face seemed joyful.

Humans were quite strange.

The other humans laughed alongside them, throwing each other happy smiles and expressions they seemingly weren't aware of the trouble brewing around them. The rain had paused for a moment where their ship lay in wait, probably in the attempt to escape the storm. But Silver knew it wouldn't help, they had gone out even farther from their shore, and the storm had been heading in this direction to begin with. A much smarter decision would have been to go back to land, to dock there, escaping the silent red haired predator without ever knowing he was there.

"Hey, Gold, get your hands off of Lindsey and pass me a drink!" The human male who wasn't wrestling for dominance or some other primitive practice called out happily.

The human male who had been wrestling, who Silver decided must be called Gold, made a noise a lot like the girl (who must be Lindsey) who he had been holding. However, his noise was different; it was lower pitched and more pleasant sounding to his ears. Still, it was a strange noise.

"Buzz kill!" Gold called out, the noise following his speech. He moved away from Lindsey and towards a small blue box that he opened before throwing his friend a can from inside of it.

Curious, what could be in those?

Silver continued to watch the humans for a while longer before he slowly began to grow bored. The three males seemed to be constantly competing with each other for the female's attention. It was actually rather pathetic to watch. He did however decide the one he would bring back to his father would be Gold. He was the taller of the two males there, noises and claims the loudest and most boastful. If anything he seemed the superior human, a proper fit for dinner, Silver's father would have no less.

Just as Silver made the decision to raise his head out of the water to begin to beckon Gold to his death, a bright flash of lightning hit the water, a loud crack of thunder following it quickly. The humans on the boat panicked, the females shrieking, the girl Lindsey clinging to Gold desperately as if this one boy could save them from the fury of a storm.

"Uh, Keith, I think we should get out of here…" Gold said looking straight up. It was easy to read in his body language that he was scared of what was happening around them, but clearly not to the females who seemed to find solace in their male friend's presence.

"Yeah uh, go see if you can get the shitty engine to work man and we'll bail." Keith replied and walked across the deck of the ship, leading towards an area with stairs that would bring him to the boat's controls.

Gold walked across the deck and Silver panicked for a moment as he realized he was going to be in seeing range. Ducking under the water too quickly, Gold's eyes saw a quick flash of red disappearing.

"Wait what was-"

"Gold! Get your ass to the engine! The girls are scared shitless, dude; let's just get out of here!" Keith yelled at Gold's hesitation. Gold looked away from the water with a sheepish smile, one that made the corners of his nose crinkle up, before he began to pull at the string of the engine quickly. It whined and made a soft rrr noise that informed its owners it was low on gas, but only confused Silver more as to why they were taking so long to move.

While Gold worked at getting it to start, the wind whipped at the boat harder, pushing it farther and farther back into the oceans clutches as it went. The waves were getting larger, splashing water into the boat now. There was a focused expression on Gold's face, biting his lip while he revved the motor further. Silver watched the scene unfold directly beneath the water's surface, sharp eyes seeing it easily.

"Fuck, come on, don't do this now." Gold muttered to himself. He continued to rev it and one of the girls looked up and began to mouth a silent prayer.

At long last the motor revved loudly, bringing the boat to life instantly. The occupants of it cheered loudly, and it quickly turned around and began its journey to land. Silver, after wasting all of his time here, wasn't going to have that. Chasing the boat towards the land, he took note of the way Gold sat atop the rear wall of the boat, not seeming to grasp the danger of the storm that he was in. Unbeknownst to Silver, the other humans around him were all laughing again and joking around, pouring over Gold, before ignoring him to go bother Keith at the controls, all continently not looking at him anymore.

Silver slipped in during this chance, pale hands reaching up to grab the back of a grey and blue stripped shirt, pulling its owner quickly into the ocean with a splash that would have been loud had the boat not been racing towards shore.

In the water's depth, Gold's glasses fell off his face, eyes going wide. His tanned body jerked around in panic, trying to be free of whoever his pursuer was, and to reach the oxygen his lungs needed.

Silver held onto him tightly and when Gold twisted around to find out who it was holding him there his eyes got even larger and an oxygen bubble escaped his mouth as he let out a strangled noise.

Ah yes, waste it even faster. Drown drown drown, it'll all be quick now, don't worry.

Silver offered Gold a pointed smile, red hair pooling around him in the ocean, and for a moment Gold stopped fighting back against him. It was all Silver needed to hook his sharp nails into Gold's shirt and begin to push him down towards the ocean floor. By the time they got to it, the black haired boy's life would have been long gone.

There was something about how those eyes focused on him made something inside Silver stir happily. The satisfaction in this moment of being about to kill a human was truly priceless, and in the end it was seduced by his charms after all. Finally, he would be able to show everyone he knew how strong he actually was. There would be no debating it or getting around it, he was even more powerful than his father.

This didn't last too long, as with the last of his strength and air; Gold began to fight back again. Beating his large hands against Silver, he fought him violently; doing anything he could to try to free himself. Silver didn't release his grip, ignoring how those hands stung while continuing to bring the human further and further down. This should have been easier, a heavy boy like this, why didn't his fat head just make him sink…? But Gold kept fighting until his hands seemed to get heavy to punch hard, for his kicks to sting or scrape away scales like they had at first. When Silver looked into those gold eyes for the first time he saw something he hadn't planned on seeing. Resignation was hiding behind flames of liquid golden fire, a boy who had accepted his fate; his eyes were now locked on Silver. When he realized the other was looking he smiled a bit, mouth crinkling at the corners, showing straight white teeth. They were the most unthreatening things Silver had ever seen in his life, and for some reason he paused for a moment, tail swishing through the water quickly as he tried to right himself.

Gold's eyes were fading even quicker now, his life force draining away, and another tiny oxygen bubble left his lungs. Silver wasn't sure why, but he felt a silent panic sink in. Why? Damn it, why!? Why couldn't he drown this disgusting human?! Why did he want to race to the surface, to save the fire in those eyes, to bring him back to his companions? When he looked down at the boy in his arms in the darkened water he saw yet again the smile, much smaller now, as it was slowly growing. God damn it, did this boy really have to be so set on dying smiling like this? It was making it all so much worse.

"Fight back!" Silver yelled at him, wanting to shake him. "Fight me again, don't just give up!"

But it was useless, it was highly unlikely that at this point Gold could hear him anymore, and Silver knew it. So before he could think to stop himself, Silver acted on the wild energy and panic he felt in his bones, and rushed Gold to the surface of the water. He put every bit of force and energy he could into moving through the powerful grey waves. Every second was more likely that those eyes would never shine again, that they would lose their glow forever. Silver wasn't sure why, but he couldn't let that happen.

When they broke through the surface of the water, his lungs adjusting automatically to the change, Silver felt relief instantly. Gold must be fine now! He looked down at the boy in his arms, who had gone completely limp, and Silver felt the panic again. Why wasn't he moving? Now of all times, why wasn't he going? He could breathe, couldn't he? Why didn't he do it? There must have been something clogging up his throat, preventing the air from rushing into his flawed human lungs. Silver banged his hang quickly against the other boys back a few times, trying to hit whatever it was out. After a few times the boy vomited up a small amount of water, coughing while he did so. His eyes were still closed, his movements seeming tired. His head lolled slightly towards Silver, eyes thin and like they had a thin veil of exhaustion on them.

Looking away from Gold, Silver quickly searched the horizon for Gold's ship, and found it faintly in the distance. It wasn't close enough; going to land would be the best option from here. He had to reach the coast, a ways away from the dock that the boat would be docking at, it was much closer and easier to reach, the only problem was Gold.

"Don't die." Silver told him quietly, although he wasn't sure why. If Gold died now, it would all be so much easier for him, wouldn't it?

Curling his arms around Gold, he raced him towards shore. The other man was a lot larger than he was, but moving him was still possible. Silver wasn't without muscle, and swimming around all of his life had helped him, but that didn't mean it wasn't starting to burn. With each powerful kick, with each moment to pause to make sure Gold got the air he needed, it became a little harder to keep swimming. But they got to the shore line, and when they were close enough for Silver to believe even if the tide had to be the one to do it, Gold would get to sure, he let go.

Gold, hardly conscious, stumbled forward onto shore, falling onto his hands and knees and shaking. He stayed there for a moment, trying hard not to vomit again. By the time he had turned around, head beginning to clear, Silver had long since disappeared beneath the water's rough and storm covered surface.


End file.
